supreme court when she was named in 1993 by president clinton. prior to her appointment she spent 13 years serving as a federal appeals court judge for the district of columbia. following a distinguished teaching career at rutgers university where she cofounded the first law journal in this country to focus exclusively on women's rights and at columbia university. as general counsel of the american civil liberties union she argued landmark cases before the supreme court on gender discrimination. she was described in a profile by the new yorker magazine as the supreme court's most accomplished litigator. she was born in brooklyn, new york. and as a measure of how far women in the law have come when she graduated from law school in 1959 at the top of her class she did not receive a single job offer. justice ruth bader ginsberg. [applause] i want to start by talking where you grew up and how you grew up. it is clear by talking to you and reading about what you have written and said in the past that that shaped you. start with you, justice ginsberg.